ISLAMABAD (Reuters)

Pakistan accused arch-rival India of funding a long running disinformation campaign against it on Friday and said it would raise the matter in global forums.

In making its claim that India attempted to manipulate international bodies through fake news websites and organisations, Pakistan’s foreign minister cited a report by European non-government organisation EU Disinfo Lab.

The report highlighted a network of hundreds of fake media outlets and organisations that it said have pushed a pro-India agenda in the European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) bodies to discredit the country’s rivals, in particular Pakistan.

EU DisinfoLab did not detail any direct links between the alleged network and the Indian government and Reuters has no independent evidence of them.

“Today, India is manipulating and misusing the international system for its own nefarious designs,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said at a press conference, adding that the Indian government was funding the network.

Qureshi called on the UN and UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to immediately investigate and de-list “10 fake NGOs created by India to malign Pakistan.”

He also asked the European Union Parliament to begin an investigation into what he termed to be the manipulation of the body and its legislative process by “fake organisations involved in anti-Pakistan propaganda under a fully funded disinformation and influence operation, run by India.”